Investopedia: September's Rail Traffic - Past The Pause?

Like many economic indicators, rail traffic is both invaluable and misleading. It's invaluable, because it is a strong signal of the derived demand in an economy, and the amount of economic activity, particularly industrial. However, it can be misleading when one quarter, let alone one month, can be more about noise than a real trend. With that in mind, it looks like rail traffic may be on the road to recovery, but the touchy state of the economy makes that a difficult call to make, with much conviction.

September's Traffic 

According to Rail Time Indicators, the monthly publication of the Association of American Railroads, U.S. rail traffic rose 1.1% from last year, in September, and was up a like amount on a month-on-month basis. Intermodal traffic, an increasingly significant part of Class one railroad earnings, was likewise strong, up 2.3% from last year and 1% from last month. Excluding coal and grain, traffic was up more than 4% and "industrial" categories grew more than 6%.

Canadian results were a bit more eccentric, showing stronger year-on-year growth in rail traffic, up 3.9%, but weaker results on a monthly basis, down 0.6%, and declines in intermodal traffic.

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